


Heart of a Champion

by Apharine



Category: Pocket Monsters | Pokemon (Main Video Game Series), Pocket Monsters | Pokemon - All Media Types, Pocket Monsters: Sword & Shield | Pokemon Sword & Shield Versions
Genre: Enemies to Friends to Lovers, F/M, Houen-chihou | Hoenn Region (Pokemon), Pokemon, Pokemon Battles, Shadow Pokemon, Slow Burn, but not super slow
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-04
Updated: 2020-11-04
Packaged: 2021-03-08 18:21:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 15
Words: 18,487
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27381103
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Apharine/pseuds/Apharine
Summary: He's the unbeatable Champion.  She's a Champion in her own right, too, though the title has been stripped from her.   They're both forces of nature on the battlefield - but they couldn't be more different, or so Taylor thinks.  Then, against all odds, they're asked to take on an unknown team wreaking havoc in Hoenn.  With these two working together, nothing can stand in their way...especially because the love that grows between them proves to be a force of its own.
Relationships: Dande | Leon/Original Character(s), Dande | Leon/Original Female Character(s)
Comments: 1
Kudos: 8





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hey everyone!! I'm SO excited to share this fic!! This is written for my friend Siren - Taylor is her OC and is used here with Siren's permission! You can find more of Siren's work by following them at hightidesiren on Twitter, or lowtidesiren on Instagram!
> 
> Just as a quick heads up, this fic starts after one of Siren's own fics. In it, Taylor and Leon have been given a somewhat mysterious mission from Blue Oak to journey to the Hoenn region and figure out what's going on with recent sightings of Shadow Pokemon there. Taylor is a former multi-region Champion, but her titles were stripped from her after it came to light that she was a member of Team Plasma for a brief period of time. As a result, she started at odds with Leon, and has only just begun opening up to him...

“I didn’t really expect that there would be remnants of other teams here in Hoenn, too,” Taylor sighs, stroking her Espeon’s ears gently. Her Espeon trills where it sits beside her, its tail waving as it senses the emotions in the room.

“Me neither, but I guess it makes sense,” Leon nods, taking his hat off and sitting on one of the two beds in their treetop hostel. His Umbreon nestles closer to him, and he pets it automatically. “If people were willing to dedicate their lives to these teams - Aqua and Magma, right? - then of course they would be reluctant to give up the cause.” He sighs and flops back on his bed, looking up at the ceiling. “Truthfully, I don’t understand at  _ all _ how essentially torturing Pokemon and making them go Shadow aligns with whatever they believe in. But I guess that’s what we’ve got to figure out, right?” He asks, turning his head to allow his gaze to find hers.

Taylor takes in a sharp breath, glancing away. Truthfully, she’d much prefer the opportunity to figure things out on her own.

But, of course, there was her past to consider. Leon had been essential to vouch for her - not only to get into Hoenn, but at quite a few places along the way, too. It almost stung, how infamous she’d become. All because she thought  _ she _ had believed in something about Team Plasma, once.

“Yeah, guess so,” is all she says instead, and gives Leon a grimace that is almost meant to be a smile. He interprets it as one, though, and gives her the best smile he can summon up in return.

It’s not as dazzling as usual, and Taylor wonders if that’s because he’s not putting on a show for the media, or because his spirits are genuinely dampened after the first few encounters with Shadow Pokemon they’d had.

Taylor pushes both thoughts out of her mind and swings her feet up onto her bed, too, pulling Espeon under the covers with her. The windows are open to their room, and a breeze blows through the trees of Fortree City, stirring her hair slightly. The air is fresh and soothing, and outside, Volbeat and Illumise dance, lighting up the sky, blissfully oblivious to the danger brewing in their homeland below.

“Are you…doing okay?” Leon asks carefully. “After everything?”

It’s a loaded question, and it sounds like he’s completely aware that it is. Taylor grimaces again, but this time, where nobody can see it.

For all the ways that Blue had tried to prepare her and Leon for this mission, it still came as a shock, the first time she saw a Shadow Pokemon. The way they were driven borderline insane by the dark energy within them, the unnatural boost in power and aggressiveness - the plaintive cries they made as they were ordered to battle…

Everything about them is  _ wrong _ .

“Okay enough,” Taylor says, biting back tears. She wishes Leon would just turn out the light and go to sleep, already - he already had his pajamas on, and she had hers on, too; there’s no reason to stay here and talk. They weren’t  _ friends _ , or anything, just mission partners. She pulls her sheets up closer to her chin at the thought, and her Espeon makes a sad cooing sound, sensing Taylor’s sadness.

“Taylor,” Leon says softly, and she tries to keep her shoulders from shaking too obviously. She can’t sob out loud - can’t let Leon, of all people, know how deeply this affected her. The springs of his mattress creak, and Taylor’s pretty sure he’s sat up. A long moment passes in silence, and Taylor thinks he’s going to finally drop the subject and go to bed, but then he speaks. “It…it’s okay if it bothers you, you know. What they’re doing to these Pokemon. It bothers me. A lot, actually. I want the Trainers in Galar to be the strongest in the world - but I’d never want anyone to be stronger if it meant gaining their strength through something like  _ this.”  _ His voice cracks as he says the words. “The thought that there are people out there who would willingly do this to another living being - especially when all Pokemon want are to be our friends…” he sniffles, then laughs. “I’m sorry - you’re just trying to sleep, and I’m doing…whatever this is.”

Taylor finally sits up at this, brushing the tears out of her eyes and turning to him. Leon, the Champion of Galar, who she held some resentment towards, because she thought he represented the pinnacle of the media culture of Galar. She’d had enough media attention for one lifetime - maybe even two - and he seemed to thrive on it, fuel himself on it even. His whole  _ career _ was built on the one thing that had torn her, an otherwise unstoppable force, down.

But what if there could be more to him than that? What if this is proof of that?

“No - don’t be sorry,” Taylor says, and she genuinely means it. “Honestly, I’d find it kind of weird if the Shadow Pokemon didn’t bother you. We had to talk about all this sooner or later, right?”

“Yeah,” Leon admits, wiping at his eyes, too. His Umbreon crawls into his lap, and he laughs a little. “I guess we did. It is really atrocious. When I started battling Pokemon, I never imagined -” he chokes up again and shakes his head, glancing away.

“It’ll be worth it if nobody else ever has to consider that such a thing could exist,” Taylor says firmly.

“I know. I think about Hop all the time - and Gloria, too, and Alanna - and I know I don’t want any of them to ever have to know what we know.” As Leon’s golden eyes connect with hers, Taylor feels a sense of connection to him for the first time ever. She’d fight with him if it meant they could achieve that, together.

“Yeah. I think of the same thing,” is all she manages to say instead, and Leon nods, understanding her meaning.

“We’d better get some rest. We’ve got to go out to, what, Lilycove City tomorrow, to find Team Aqua, if our intel can be trusted?”

“Yeah, Lilycove for Team Aqua,” Taylor nods. “And Team Magma’s at the Jagged Pass by Mount Chimney. I’m sure they’re not alone, either…Team Rocket must be there in force.”

“Yeah, probably,” Leon agrees. “We’ve got our work cut out for us.”

“Definitely,” Taylor nods, then reaches for the pull chain on the lamp on the nightstand between them. “Good night, Leon,” she says, then turns the light out.


	2. Chapter 2

To Taylor’s surprise, Leon actually wants to  _ walk  _ from Fortree City to Lilycove.

“It’s not that far - it’s just, what, the next City over? Sure, there’s a couple Routes to cover, but we might learn valuable information,” he insists.

“Leon - listen, you haven’t been to Hoenn before,” Taylor says. “I have. Routes 120 and 121 don’t sound like they should be that difficult to navigate, but they are. It can take people days to navigate through. And, no offense, you’re not exactly renowned for your navigational ability to start with.”

Leon frowns at this.

“Okay, that’s possibly a cheap shot, but I guess it’s fair,” he says carefully. “It’s just - I can’t help but feel like we’re going into this unprepared.”

“Unprepared?” Taylor presses, beginning to climb down the ladder that connects their treetop hostel to the ground.

“Yeah. We got this intel, what, a day ago? And we’re just going to rush into what could very well be an absolute hive of Shadow Pokemon activity without trying to assess the surrounding area?”

Taylor moves hand-over-hand down the rungs of the ladder, beginning to frown herself.

“What’s there to assess? There’s a lot of water, a lot of bridges, a lot of forests, and even the stretches of tall grass are mazes,” she grumbles. “I know these routes pretty well, Leon.”

“Yeah, but, like, who controls these areas? You know? If we need to run -”

Taylor jumps off the ladder onto the ground, crossing her arms over her chest defensively.

“We’re not  _ going _ to run.”

Leon jumps to the ground after her, crossing his arms, too. His eyes aren’t quite as steely as Taylor’s, but there’s a layer of concern to them.

“You can’t know that,” he says with a small frown. “What if we get split up? What if we need to regroup somewhere out of the way? We need more of a plan before we go in there, Taylor.”

Taylor swallows the irritation building in her chest. For all the second thoughts she’d had about Leon last evening before bed, he seems determined to make himself a bit of a nuisance again. Things would truly be easier if she could just do this alone, her way.

But she’s not alone, and she knows she needs to compromise, just a little bit.

“Okay. Listen, how about we touch down on Route 120 and I’ll take a minute to show you some of the landmarks? We’ll pick one of them to be our rendezvous point,” Taylor offers. She’s not sure how much good that will do - if Leon and her did get split up and need to regroup, he’s more likely to end up turned around than to figure out his way through that Route. “Then we can do the same on Route 121, talk to some folks on their way in and out of Lilycove. Get a feel for things, but still keep a move on. Okay?”

This seems to placate Leon, who nods.

“That sounds good,” he agrees. “Let me get Charizard out, and we can get flying.” A moment later, he releases the big Fire-type from his Pokeball, and climbs up onto his back easily. Then, he turns to Taylor, reaching one hand down to help her up.

For a moment, Taylor feels rooted to the spot. The the grace with which his powerful body had moved, the easy smile on his face, the big hand extended down to her, his hair rippling in the slight breeze -

He actually looks strikingly handsome.

“You coming, or what?” Leon laughs.

“Yeah!” Taylor says, hoping she’s not blushing as she reaches up to him. He pulls her up onto Charizard easily, and sets her squarely in front of his body. His arms, strong and muscular, reach around her to hold onto Charizard.

“Hold on tight,” Leon tells her, and she doesn’t need to be told twice. She grabs onto Charizard’s neck, her hands brushing against his a little.

But she doesn’t have time to be flustered by that, because the next moment, Charizard begins to beat his powerful wings, and the pair ascend into the air.

Taylor and Leon had gone back and forth while in the air, debating the advantages and disadvantages of various rendezvous points. The Ancient Tomb, for example, was large and prominent from the air, but nearly inaccessible by foot - especially given how far south down the route it lay, as far away from Lilycove as possible. In the end, they’d settled for meeting by the Scorched Slab, a rocky cave that erupted from the water under the route’s northernmost bridge. Though they might back themselves into a corner there, if pursued, it was also the spot most likely to be easily accessible on foot - and, they both had to admit, it’d be hard for Leon to miss.

They’d touched down and walked around the area briefly, but encountered mostly a bunch of anglers, all of whom were anxious for the curious pair to stay quiet.

In the end, they’d taken to the air, and landed on Route 121 next, just outside of Lilycove.

“Things seem…normal,” Taylor says, frowning. A small group of teenage girls passes them on their way into the City, eagerly chatting about all the things they wanted to buy in the Lilycove Department Store. 

“They do,” Leon agrees. The two keep an ear open as they walk, but for the most part, the people around them seem to be going about normal daily business - stopping in at the Safari Zone for a day of fun, visiting Mount Pyre to pay respects to their deceased Pokemon. Nobody seems concerned, or mentions anything unusual, like terrifyingly strong Pokemon with dark auras literally emanating off of them.

“Well,” Taylor says, taking a deep breath and eyeing the road as it turns to pavement, marking the delineation between the city outskirts and the city itself. “Shall we?”

Leon gives her a dazzling smile.

“Let’s do this!”

Taylor’s more than a little grateful that he hadn’t said anything about a Champion Time, all things considered. Champion times hadn’t, historically, gone well for her.


	3. Chapter 3

Reaching the Team Aqua hideout had proven to be…easy.

Almost  _ concerningly _ easy.

All they’d had to do was walk down some paths in the cliffs on the east side of the city, then head out through some shoals and shallows. Sure, they’d managed to wind up with wet feet, but that was a small inconvenience, overall. And there, just on the other side of an enormous rock formation, is a clear entrance into its depths.

“That’s gotta be it,” Taylor breathes, her shoulder brushing Leon’s. The two are lurking behind another rock formation, this one not much larger than the two of them combined - but still, it’ll provide some sort of shelter from any prying eyes.

“Definitely. Let’s bring out Umbreon, just in case, though, yeah?” Leon says, turning the Pokeball over in his hands. When Taylor gives a sharp nod of affirmation, he releases the Pokeball, and Umbreon appears. “This might be a bit of a big ask, Umbreon,” Leon starts, bending down and touching one hand to the Pokemon’s head. Umbreon nuzzles into him, more than willing to do whatever it can for him. “But can you detect any Shadow Pokemon in that cave?”

Umbreon turns its attention to the hideout, and tips its ears forward and back, closing his eyes occasionally.

Finally, he picks up on something, and his red eyes fly open.

“Um!” He exclaims, giving a sharp nod. Taylor and Leon exchange a look.

“This is the place, then,” Taylor murmurs. “I’m going to have Espeon ready. We might have better odds of sneaking in if she can feel where people are, you know?”

“Sounds good,” Leon agrees, then strokes Umbreons ears and thanks him for his work. “This little guy will stay out, too. We’ll need his skills to hone in on where that Shadow Pokemon is, exactly.”

Taylor opens Espeon’s Pokeball, and she appears, elegant as ever.

“All right,” Taylor says. “Let’s go.”

The two Trainers and their two respective Pokemon make their way across the shallows; though the water deepens as they approach the Team Aqua Hideout, it appears to be low tide, and they’re able to make their way in. The thick rock walls continue on, creating a long tunnel to enter, but the water soon gives way to a tiled floor.

“This is really it, huh,” Leon murmurs, stepping out of the water and onto the tile. Taylor doesn’t respond, only nods grimly. Her blood is already steeling for the battles she knows are about to come. There’s an enormous steel double door, probably waterproof to keep out the tides, and Taylor approaches it, pushing.

It’s heavy, but it moves.

The rock walls abruptly give way to a polished interior - and, moreover, it’s one that looks clean and occupied. The lights are on, and a few shipping crates, bolted closed, sit by the entrance.

But although the place is brightly lit, it doesn’t appear that anyone is home.

Together, Taylor and Leon walk on, moving from the entryway into another area that’s loaded with more shipping crates. Whatever’s in them, they apparently need a lot of it.

Umbreon growls quietly, his ears pricking directly towards the shipping crates.

“What is it?” Taylor asks. “Are there Pokemon in there?” Umbreon gives no response, only continues growling lowly. Leon frowns at this behavior and approaches one of the containers. The top is actually loose on this one, and he lifts it up, his biceps straining under the weight of the corrugated medal. 

Taylor forces herself to look away from Leon’s arms and see what’s inside. The shipping container appears to be filled with rocks, of all things. Black, shiny rocks.

“Not exactly what I expected,” Taylor frowns, reaching in and turning one over in her hand. Leon sets the steel lid down at an offset compared to the rest of the container, and reaches in to investigate the rocks, too. Espeon and Umbreon jump up on the lid, peering in, though Umbreon’s hackles are raised. Based on Umbreon’s reaction to them, Taylor half expects the stones to start to glow, or shimmer with some sort of an evil aura, but they don’t - they’re just rocks, cool and a little heavy in her hand.

“Hey - you’re not supposed to touch those,” someone says, and both Taylor and Leon turn in surprise.

“Oh - sorry,” Leon says, pulling his hand back. Taylor does the same, but takes the rock in her hand with her, dropping it into her pocket where she hopes their interloper can’t see.

“Do I know you?” The Team member asks; Taylor genuinely can’t tell if they’re Team Aqua or Team Rocket, because they’re just dressed in casual black clothes. Suddenly, every single person in or out of Lilycove - not to mention Routes 120 and 121 - who had worn black clothes becomes a potential threat in Taylor’s mind.

“Probably not,” Leon says, his voice a little too terse, his answer a little too lackluster.

“Then what are you doing here?” The Team grunt asks, his eyes narrowed. “You know what - I don’t actually care. I’ve got my own stuff to do, and you’ll be Arlo’s problem if you keep going.”

“Arlo?” Taylor echoes, stepping forward; her Espeon jumps down with her, positioning itself by her side warily.

“Yeah. You’ll meet them soon enough,” the young man shrugs. “Listen - I’m just doing this for some extra money. Things are bad back home, so I don’t really care. But there are some people here who are doing worse things than you can imagine. Whoever you both think you are, it’s your funeral if you keep going.”

Then the young man waves and moves on, heading for the entrance.

Taylor catches a glimpse of Leon reaching for Charizard’s Pokeball, and darts her hand out, setting it on his wrist.

“Don’t. It’s not worth battling someone who doesn’t really want to fight us, and it sounds like we’ll need Charizard to be at 100% soon.”

Leon grimaces.

“I’m going to try to call Blue, then. Update him on what’s happened so far,” he says, pulling out his Rotom Phone. Taylor nods.

“Probably a good idea. Meet me in that room when you’re done, then,” she replies, nodding at another pair of double doors. “I’m gonna go scope things out.”

Leon nods, already finding Blue’s number in his phone and dialing it.

As Taylor walks towards the door, her mind begins to swirl. How many people, exactly, had she seen in all-black and not thought twice of it? Sure, some of them could very well be just normal people - but at least some of them were like that man she’d seen, doing some legwork for whatever sinister operation was pulling the strings of this whole Shadow Pokemon thing.

Maybe all of this is bigger than she - or Blue - had thought.

Taylor pushes through the double doors again, this time encountering only some resistance. The room she enters is large, with some high-tech screens on the walls, but perhaps most obvious of all, with a large machine similar to a generator humming away in the center.

A black-haired person with reddish hair is tinkering with the generator, and they turn slightly when they hear Taylor approach.

“What, was I not clear to you before? I need you to go find Sierra -” Suddenly, the red-haired person realizes that they’re not speaking to the grunt in black, and they stand up, frowning. “You’re not who I expected,” they say, their voice suddenly cool.

“You must be Arlo,” Taylor says, trying to keep her voice steady. The words of that grunt echo in her mind -  _ it’s your funeral _ . That’s absurd, Taylor tells herself. She’s a Champion several times over; she’s as strong as Trainers come. 

Arlo seems to suddenly realize who she is, a smile coming over their face.

“Wait - I know you. You’re Taylor, right?” Taylor doesn’t respond, trying to keep an impassive expression on her face. “The inter-regional Champion. The one who, oh, I don’t know, lost all their titles once everyone discovered she’d had a little bit of tenure in Team Plasma?”

“Yeah,” Taylor says, her mouth set in a tight grimace. “That’s me.”

Arlo’s smile widens, and they step forward confidently.

“Here to join us, then? Get a little bit of revenge on everyone who spoke badly of you? On everyone who wanted to grind you down into nothing, even though you were so much stronger than them?” They ask, their eyes sparkling. Just as they begin to extend one hand, the double doors open again, and Leon steps through. Arlo’s eyes flicker over to him, and they pull their hand back, clearly recognizing the purple-haired man.

Umbreon makes an insistent cry, gesturing with his ears towards Arlo. They’ve got Shadow Pokemon on them.

“That’s not what I want,” Taylor says firmly, though she feels a little pang of longing. She didn’t want to  _ hurt  _ anyone, but the idea of showing off her strength…of being respected, instead of the object of vitriol…sounds better than she’d like it to.

But there’s a suffering Pokemon in the same room as her, and it’s her job to save it. To save all of them.

Arlo adjusts their blocky glasses, their eyebrows lowering.

“What do you know about Shadow Pokemon?” Leon asks, his voice deep and stern.

Taylor grimaces; that was  _ way _ too blunt. If he’d just kept quiet, she might have been able to play up her angle as denounced Champion a little more. Maybe get some information out of Arlo before it came to a battle, especially if Arlo thought they stood a chance at converting her, in the end.

To her surprise, though, Arlo simply laughs.

“I’m quite familiar with Shadow Pokemon,  _ former _ Champion Leon,” Arlo needles. “Here - why don’t I show you?”

And they deftly lift a Pokeball from their waist, tossing it into the space between the three Trainers.

A Scizor emerges, its eyes glowing red, a dark aura emanating off its form. The shadows literally fill the room as the Pokemon gives a strangled cry of pain, slashing at a large piece of metal that looks like a part of the generator itself. The metal rends into pieces in Scizor’s claws.

“Go - Char -” Leon starts, but Taylor’s eyes widen.

“No! Leon - not Charizard!” She commands. “We need to catch this Scizor, not knock it out! Umbreon, Espeon -” she begins, but the Scizor is going berserk, writhing in pain; it lifts one of the chunks of metal and throws it at Leon.

Epseon redirects it with a blast of Psybeam, and Leon is safe, but the Scizor quickly grabs the next piece of metal and sends it spinning towards Taylor. A moment later, Umbreon launches a Dark Pulse at the Scizor, but Taylor doesn’t see what happens, because the metal connects with her head. It’s a glancing blow - Espeon has managed to redirect the worst of that attack, too - but even the edge against her temple is enough.

Taylor’s world spirals into blackness.


	4. Chapter 4

Taylor stirs her head, feeling a throb of lancing pain through her temple.

Pain. The Scizor - the fight -

Everything comes back to Taylor in an abrupt rush, and she gasps, trying to sit up.

“Hey, hey,” a deep voice murmurs. A strong hand settles on her shoulder, gently pushing her back down to the bed.

Bed?

“Where am I?” Taylor asks, blinking around in confusion.

“You’re at the Lilycove Pokemon Center,” Leon says. He’s got a slight scrape on his face, but otherwise looks fine. Taylor tries to sit up again in her confusion; could it be true? Are they at the Pokemon Center?

By all indications - the soft bed she’s on, the white curtain drawn about her, the sterile looking tile floors - they really are.

Leon pushes her back down gently again, his hand lingering on her.

“You really need to rest, you know. They’re getting you in for a head scan in a minute. You were out a long time.” Leon’s eyes darken, concern filling them as he looks at Taylor softly, and she actually feels her heart flutter a little.

It’s probably just because she’s concussed, she tells herself. She’s not thinking straight.

“What happened?” She asks blearily. “How did we end up getting out of there?”

“Espeon and Umbreon were able to weaken the Scizor together, in the end. Espeon had to put up a kind of Light Screen, I guess, to keep that Scizor from knocking me out the way it did to you,” he muses. “Charizard handled the rest of Arlo’s Pokemon. None of which were Shadow, by the way.”

“Did you manage to catch the Scizor, then?” Taylor asks, remembering the way the Pokemon’s dark aura had conveyed the unimaginable pain it must have been in.

“Yeah. I did,” Leon says with a soft smile. “I sent it by PC Link to Blue, and he’s gonna see if he can figure out how to turn it into a regular Pokemon again.”

“Good,” Taylor says, a small smile coming to her lips as she imagines the poor Scizor, returned to health and happiness. 

It might have hurt her, but it didn’t deserve any of what had happened to it.

To her surprise, Leon’s lips echo her small smile, and he strokes some of her hair back from her forehead.

“I was really worried for you, you know,” he admits, and Taylor feels her cheeks heat up in a blush. She’s completely unsure what to say, but it turns out she doesn’t have to say anything, because a moment later, a nurse parts the curtains, calling her name.

“Taylor? Oh, good, she’s awake,” the nurse smiles. “We’re ready to give you that head scan, now.”

To Taylor’s surprise, Leon’s face tightens.

“Can I…come with her?” When the nurse’s eyebrows rise in surprise, he tries to explain, stammering and blushing all the while. “Not - not like  _ in _ the scanner, I know that wouldn’t work and all, but can I just be like, in the room, or in the hallway? While she gets scanned? I, um, I - it was really frightening, seeing her hurt like that, and I don’t want to be apart from her just yet…”

He trails off, looking towards the floor, and the nurse laughs.

“I’m sure you can at least wait in the hall, if it means that much to you. And, of course, if the patient is okay with it,” she adds, turning her attention to Taylor.

Taylor’s sure her cheeks are burning fiercely, but she ultimately nods.

“I’d like that,” she says, and she sees Leon glance up, a small smile coming back to his lips again as he meets her eyes.

Arceus. If he keeps doing that, Taylor is sure she’s going to be in trouble, concussion or not.

* * *

In the end, Taylor’s admitted to the Pokemon Center overnight with a moderate concussion. 

“How’s the Chansey egg taste?” Leon asks, eyeing her tray of dinner.

“It’s actually a lot better than I expected,” Taylor admits, taking another spoonful of the softboiled whites. “Here’s to hoping it does the job, and gets me out of here before tomorrow night.”

“Yeah,” Leon says faintly, poking at his own dinner. After a long pause, he raises his head and looks at Taylor carefully, his eyes darting to the rather large bandage that’s been taped onto her temple. “You know, if you  _ did _ have to spend the night again, just to make sure you’re okay…it might not be the end of the world.”

Taylor’s silent, swallowing the bite of egg as she frowns over at Leon. He grimaces.

“Don’t look at me like that. I just want you to be okay, is all.” Then he sighs and shakes his head, looking away. “This whole thing feels like it’s…getting out of hand. You shouldn’t have gotten hurt the way you did.”

Taylor sighs and reaches out to Leon, putting one hand on his shoulder.

“We both knew there were risks going into this,” she reminds him gently.

“I know,” he says sadly, putting one of his hands over hers. It’s surprisingly warm, and Taylor finds the contact electrifying, in a good way. “I just…thought I’d be able to protect you. That if there were any risks, I could make sure they were all on me.”

“What a ridiculous idea.” The words are out of Taylor’s mouth before she can stop them, and Leon glances up, surprised. His golden eyes find hers, and she claps the hand on his shoulder over her mouth. “I mean - I don’t want to sound rude, it’s just -”

But a moment later, Leon dissolves into laughter.

“It  _ is  _ pretty ridiculous, isn’t it?” He admits. Soon, Taylor’s laughing, too.

“Maybe,” she agrees. Leon chuckles, shaking his head.

“More than maybe,” he says softly. He pauses a moment, then continues to speak. “This is probably going to sound dumb, but I’ll tell you anyway. Being Champion of Galar for so long kind of got it into my head that my job is to protect everyone. I mean, Rose definitely helped with that, too. He said that a Champion should always look out for their region. Probably a lot of that was all to prepare me to fall in line for his whole Darkest Day plan,” he adds, a note of bitterness and sadness in his voice. “Not that things worked out with me protecting anyone with that. So I guess I kind of thought I could redeem myself with this, you know?”

His golden eyes find Taylor’s again, and as she peers into them, she sees nothing but a surprising amount of honesty. She can understand, to a degree, the way that being Champion at a young age can permanently affect a person - though it’s clear that the degree of grooming that Leon went through was more than anything she’d suffered.

“You don’t have anything to redeem yourself for, Leon. You gave it your best both times,” she says gently. And he had, whether the media had been watching, or not. “That’s all anyone could hope for. And you  _ did _ protect me, in the end. You got me out of that hideout safely.” Leon smiles shyly at this, and his hand finds Taylor’s on the bed. His fingers fold about hers gently, and Taylor tries not to think about just how large his hand is compared to hers. Instead, another thought comes to her. “What happened to that Arlo person, anyway?”

“They escaped,” Leon sighs. “When they were down to their last Pokemon, they ran further into the hideout. I sent Umbreon in to follow them while I picked you up and put you on Charizard, but they must have had some sort of back entrance or something further in. Umbreon wasn’t able to round them up, and I heard a gate open and a boat pull out. They  _ did _ leave their last Pokemon, though - a Blastoise.”

“Not a Shadow Pokemon yet, though, right?” Taylor asks.

“No,” Leon agrees. “Not yet.”

“We might have saved it from meeting that fate, though,” Taylor considers, and returns to eating her dinner.

The rest of the conversation for the evening flows easily, with Taylor finding herself opening up to Leon more and more. In turn, Leon begins to tell her more about himself, as well, and Taylor is surprised to find herself liking what she hears.

Eventually, darkness settles, the last of the sunset disappearing in the window in Taylor’s room, and Leon frowns.

“I guess…I should try to find a hostel for the night?” The discomfort in his face is clear, and Taylor finds herself frowning, too.

“You don’t look enthusiastic about this idea,” she observes.

Leon’s frown deepens, and he walks over to the door to her room, opening it and peeking out, then closing it and returning to his seat by Taylor’s hospital bed.

“That grunt was dressed all in plain clothes. It’s…really freaked me out, to be honest,” he says, leaning in towards Taylor and keeping his voice low.

“I forgot about that, actually,” Taylor admits.

“Probably understandable, given….” Leon trails off, gesturing to the bandage on her head. Taylor laughs, and Leon smiles, too, then shakes his head. “But…if that person was just wearing casual clothes, it means Team Rocket or Aqua or both - or whoever’s behind this whole thing - they’re really trying to blend in this time. We have no idea how big this thing is, or who we can trust.”

Taylor considers his words, then bites her lip. The thought is appalling; life was so much easier when people on Teams wore outfits that identified their affiliation. But, then, most people on those teams truly believed that they were doing good for the world, in some way.

What does it say about this group, that they wouldn’t out themselves to the world?

“Is that why you didn’t want to let me go get my head scan alone?” She asks, suddenly curious.

“Yeah,” Leon admits, leaning forward to rest his elbows on his knees. “I know it’s a little ridiculous - these are  _ nurses _ , after all, and you’d probably always be where more than one person would have an eye on you - but I just didn’t feel okay with you being alone.” He pauses a moment, then glances out the window, where the lights of Lilycove City flicker. “I still don’t really feel okay with you being alone.”

Taylor swallows hard, her fingers automatically drifting to the bandage on the side of her head. She hates to admit it, but she knows she’s not at 100% yet. Even if her head isn’t searing with pain, she’s still weak right now. 

If someone were to get to her, alone…

“Leon?” She asks, her throat tight. Leon turns to her, his eyes filled with worry. “Will you stay here with me, tonight? I - I think you’re right. We shouldn’t be split up. Not when we can’t tell who we can trust and who we can’t.”

Taylor can see the tension visibly leave Leon’s body.

“I’m so glad you agree,” he sighs, and Taylor would be lying if she said she didn’t feel a sense of relief, too.


	5. Chapter 5

Within a couple hours, an entirely new predicament makes itself known.

“Um, pardon me,” Leon asks the nurse who is finishing changing Taylor’s head bandage. “Does the Pokemon Center have any cots to spare? So I can stay the night?”

“I can check in the supply closet once I’m done here,” the nurse offers kindly, and applies one more round of the healing spray to Taylor’s temple.

But when she returns, she shakes her head.

“I’m sorry - we only keep a few on hand, and they’ve all been taken by other patients’ family members for tonight. I could try to find you a comfier chair, though,” she offers, glancing at the hardback seat Leon’s perched on.

“Don’t worry too much about it,” he says amenably. “I’m sure you’re busy, and I’ve slept in worse places out in the wilderness.”

But when the nurse leaves, Taylor frowns over at Leon.

“You can’t seriously plan to sleep in that,” she says, gesturing at the stiff chair. Leon shrugs.

“I’m sure I can get at least some shuteye,” he replies easily. 

“You’ll be up at least half the night, if not more,” Taylor snorts. “I should go ask that nurse to find something more comfortable -”

“I don’t mind one night of bad sleep. It was pretty common when I was Champion, given how much traveling and training I had to fit in,” Leon shrugs.

“We need you to be at 100%,” Taylor challenges him. She’s feeling better already, to be sure, but the idea of just being discharged from the Center with a drowsy Leon doesn’t exactly inspire confidence in their ability to take down this Shadow Pokemon ring.

“Well, I won’t be at 100% even if I sleep in a better chair,” Leon laughs. “It’s still a chair, after all. The only way I’d get a good night’s sleep would be if I slept in bed with you.”

Taylor starts at his words, and Leon does, too, his eyes widening.

“Oh, Arceus, now it’s my turn to say I’m sorry - I wasn’t trying to imply -” he starts, clearly flustered.

“No, you’re right though,” Taylor laughs, and scoots over in bed. “If you can fit, you can sleep here.”

“You’re joking,” Leon deadpans, though his eyes do flicker to the open spot in Taylor’s bed with what looks like a shimmer of interest.

“I’m definitely not,” Taylor says firmly. “I don’t want you out of it tomorrow. We have no idea what’s coming our way.”

Leon sighs, then stands up, chuckling as he sits on the edge of Taylor’s bed.

“Last chance to change your mind. Once I lay down, you’re probably stuck with me for the night, because I’m not gonna want to go back to that chair,” he says, trying to sound lighthearted.

“Could you turn the lights out before you lay down, then?” Taylor asks, trying to sound like her heart isn’t beginning to pound in her chest at the thought of actually sharing a bed with a real, live man.

“Oh! Sure,” Leon laughs, standing and crossing the room. He flicks the lights off easily, then returns to Taylor’s bedside, fumbling around in the darkness. His big hands roam over Taylor’s arm for a moment as he tries to feel out the spot where he’s meant to lay down, and then the mattress beside her sinks as it accepts Leon’s frame, heavy with muscle. “Do you mind if I steal a little bit of your blankets?” He asks, his voice low and tentative.

“Oh - sure,” Taylor agrees, and moves to drape them over him. His hand brushes hers in the dark, and then he’s beneath the covers, incredibly close to her - the bed didn’t afford much room for two people, after all.

“Are you okay with this? And comfortable?” Leon asks carefully.

“Yeah, actually, I am. How about you?” Taylor returns, turning over on her side to face him. She can just make out the features of his face in the dark, and his breath is warm where it mingles with hers.

“This is way better than the chair,” Leon laughs.

“Good,” Taylor hums, and finds she has to resist the urge to reach out to him - to the man who had saved her, carried her out of harm’s way, kept her safe. “Well - good night, Leon.”

“Night, Taylor. Sweet dreams,” he murmurs back, and then she rolls over and closes her eyes.

* * *

When Taylor wakes up, she’s a bit confused. She’s up against something very warm and comfortable - so comfortable, in fact, she almost considers going right back to sleep. But she knows she’s got a big day before her, so she stirs and forces herself to be awake.

As she does, she realizes the thing she’s up against is Leon’s chest, and his arms are around her, to boot.

“Oh, Arceus!” Taylor exclaims, scrambling backwards in bed.

Leon springs awake, his golden eyes wide, and he jumps back, too, swearing as he goes.

“What is it? Is there a bug?”

“No!” Taylor squeals, sitting up and clutching the blankets to her chest, even though she’s fully covered already. “You were - you were -”

Leon sits up stares at her, his eyes wide, and Taylor finally spits out what she’s been trying to say. 

“You were  _ holding _ me!”

Leon relaxes and laughs, flopping back down onto his pillow.

“Oh, thank Arceus, I was worried for a minute,” he says, sending a relaxed smile Taylor’s way.

“You - you should still be worried!” Taylor stammers, then grabs her pillow and throws it at Leon. He catches it easily and laughs.

“Well, it looks like our patient is certainly feeling better,” an unfamiliar voice comments, and Taylor freezes, turning around to see a doctor accompanied by a nurse stepping into her room. “You ready to be let go today?”

Taylor forgets entirely about Leon, and nods fervently.

“Definitely. We’ve got things to do,” she says, determination in her voice.


	6. Chapter 6

For Taylor, getting to put her regular clothes back on instead of the hospital gown is an enormous relief, to say the least. She makes Leon step just outside of the room as she changes, and as she slides her pants on, she feels something lumpy in her pocket.

“Oh, Arceus,” she breathes, and pulls out the strange rock she’d grabbed in the Aqua Hideout. She slips the rest of her clothes on quickly, then rushes towards the door. “Leon!” She calls, holding the rock up.

Leon opens the door so fast, he nearly hits her in the head again, except for the fact that Taylor manages to get out of the way in time.

“Taylor!” He exclaims, fear written all over his face. “Is everything all right?”

“Yes, yes, it’s fine,” she says, laughing a little. “You nearly barreled me over.”

“I’m sorry,” he says, realizing how close she’d come to another night in the Pokemon Center. “I didn’t mean to almost hurt you -”

“I’m okay, don’t worry about it,” Taylor laughs, waving Leon’s concern off. “But look what I forgot I had in my real clothes!” She holds the rock up to the light again, turning it and letting its surfaces gleam.

“Wait,” Leon says, taking it from her hands gently. “Is this…the stuff they had crates full of in the Team Aqua Hideout?”

“Yeah!” Taylor beams. “I nabbed one when that grunt caught us yesterday, before we fought Arlo.”

“Taylor!” Leon laughs, scooping her up in a hug and holding her so tight, he picks her up off the ground a little. Taylor laughs, too, her arms wrapping around his broad shoulders for balance. “You’re  _ so _ brilliant!”

“I am?” She asks, smiling from ear to ear.

“Yeah! We can get a picture of this and send it out to Blue. He can look into this and see if he can learn more about what’s going on! For all we know, this could be some sort of key finding!” He sets Taylor down and hands her the rock back, and Taylor feels her fingers brush against his big hand.

Is it just her imagination, or had his fingers lingered on hers a moment?

“Right,” Taylor grins, forcing herself to focus. “Let’s get a photo out to Blue. Er - do you know where my Rotom phone went?” She asks, a bit sheepish.

“Oh - yeah,” Leon nods, moving to Taylor’s bag. “I powered him down and put him in with your other stuff. Should be here.” He rummages around a moment, then produces the phone, handing it to Taylor again. “I really do think you’re brilliant, you know,” he smiles at her as she takes the phone from him, and Taylor has to pretend to be fascinated by the power button on her Rotom phone to hide the smile that spreads across her face at his words.

* * *

“All right, brilliant one, you’re certain you’re feeling up to this?” Leon asks, hovering near Taylor as she steps out of the Pokemon Center.

“Yeah,” Taylor nods. “I really am. Doesn’t even feel like I was out cold for an hour straight yesterday,” she snarks, touching the now-healed place on her head where she’d been hit.

“That isn’t helping me feel better about things, somehow,” Leon sighs, deflating a little.

“Look - it’ll be fine. We’ll stick together. Besides, it’s not like we’ve got time to waste,” Taylor adds pointedly. “With Arlo having escaped, who knows how many people might be on the lookout for us, now.”

Leon grimaces, but nods.

“Yeah. I guess that’s true. We’ve got to beat Arlo out if we’re going to learn anything else,” he agrees. “I still don’t like it.”

“I know,” Taylor laughs, and actually reaches out and touches his forearm. “You don’t have to like it. You just have to work with me through it, okay?”

Leon sighs, his body visibly relaxing.

“Yeah. I can do that,” he nods. Then, gently, he lays one hand on Taylor’s shoulder. “And I’ll do my best to continue keeping you safe, too.”

The earnestness in his voice, the fire in his eyes…it’s all too much for Taylor, and she feels heat rise to her cheeks. 

“Um - well, thank you,” she says. Then, stubbornly, she glances away, casting her eyes about the cityscape of Lilycove. “Let’s see…you said that Arlo took off in what sounded like a boat, right? So let’s go down to the harbor and see what we can see - or hear,” Taylor decides, and begins to walk in the direction of the shipyard, with its many docks and piers.

“Sounds like a plan,” Leon agrees, and follows along behind her.

* * *

The two of them had been milling about the shipyard all morning, posing as tourists potentially interested in taking a deep-sea-fishing excursion and chatting with skippers and captains - but nobody had reported seeing anything unusual.

Not that it was easy to work that question into regular conversation, either, but Leon and Taylor alike had both tried.

Beginning to get hungry for lunch, the pair settle on a bench on the main dock, watching yachts and sailboats alike mosey in and out of the vast harbor.

“We’re getting nowhere fast,” Taylor sighs, her foot bobbing in agitation. “Maybe we need to take a different tack.”

“Different tack with what?” An unfamiliar voice asks. It belongs to a burly, older man carrying a bucket in each hand. “I’m the dockmaster - if you need help around here with anything, I’m the one to ask.”

Taylor glances at Leon, who meets her gaze steadily. Well, she figures - they might as well.

“We’ve heard rumors of an uncommonly strong and aggressive sort of Pokemon around here, and we’ve been sent to investigate,” she says, spilling the beans. There’s no  _ way _ this guy can be part of Team Rocket, or Team Anybody - he just doesn’t look the sort. “Have you seen anything suspicious or concerning that might help point us in the right direction?”

The dockmaster sighs, setting his buckets down.

“There’s a lot that goes on here, truthfully. I try to see it all, but there’s only so much this old pair of eyes can do. But,” he says, taking a step closer and lowering his voice. “There’s been this ship that’s gone past the harbor almost every night, around midnight or 1AM. It’s always heading towards the shoals over to the east, and I know it goes in because I can hear it cut its engine. What’s over there that it could want? There’s never a ship moored there, and I never hear it come back out.”

Taylor again exchanges a meaningful look with Leon.

“We think there’s something over there involved with these Pokemon,” Leon says carefully. “Do you have any more information on that boat?”

“Well - I think I heard it off of the shore of Dewford, once, while I was visiting my dear old friend who runs a ferry to the town,” he says. “I can usually tell most engines apart anyway, but that one has a very distinct sound.”

“Dewford, huh?” Taylor repeats, her mind already racing. “Hey - if you don’t mind me asking, did you hear that boat come in last night?”

The dockmaster shakes his head.

“Nope. Only had three boats come and go late last night, and they were all friends operating their deep sea fishing boats. The last I saw of that one boat was yesterday. Took off across the open sea like a rocket,” he says, then bends to pick up his buckets again. “Well - I’m sorry I couldn’t be more informative, but I hope you two kids find what you’re looking for. I’ll certainly keep an ear out for you, Mister and Miss….?” He trails off expectantly, waiting for a name.

“Taylor and Leon,” Taylor says, hoping trusting him with their names isn’t the wrong choice.

“Leon, huh?” The Dockmaster says, narrowing his eyes at the purple-haired man. “You seem familiar, somehow. Well - suppose I’ve seen a lot of people in my life. You two stop back in sometime next week, and I’ll tell you if I hear anything new.”

“Thank you,” Taylor and Leon chorus together as the man steps away, then the two fall silent for a long moment together. Taylor chews on her lip a little, deep in thought, and finally makes up her mind, deciding to speak.

“You’re not going to like what I’m going to say,” she says, looking at the rows upon rows of ships swaying gently in the waves instead of at Leon.

“It’s probably what I was going to say, so you might as well do the honors,” Leon chuckles, his voice low. Taylor turns to look at him in surprise; she’d expected more opposition, somehow, and the fact that he seems to already be on the same page as her is -

Reassuring, almost.

“We’ve got to go back to the Hideout,” she says. “Arlo’s not back, and nobody’s come or gone - by boat at least - since yesterday. So let’s go see what’s in there.”

“We definitely need to check out whatever that machine Arlo was tinkering with is,” Leon agrees. “But…promise me we won’t split up?” He asks, holding his pinky out to Taylor. The gesture is so sweet, so innocent, it takes her quite by surprise, and she laughs.

“I promise,” she agrees, and loops her finger through his.


	7. Chapter 7

As Taylor and Leon walk through Lilycove, heading towards the Hideout, they alternate between thoughtful silences and occasional chatting.

“You know,” Taylor says, mulling over the Dockmaster’s words in her mind. “If that boat had been seen outside of Dewford, we might want to check that out, too. I know Norman in Petalburg would put us up, no questions asked, and from there, it’s not too far to the sea.”

“That can be next on the to-do list, depending on what we find in the hideout,” Leon agrees with a nod. “In the meanwhile - we’ve got to lose this guy on our tail.”

“What?” Taylor asks sharply, and automatically turns to look.

“Act casual,” Leon says firmly. “Don’t look. There was this guy hovering near us on the docks, and he’s been following us through the city.”

“Great,” Taylor says through clenched teeth. “Suppose hopping on Charizard would be a little too obvious right now, huh?”

Leon laughs.

“We might stand out a bit,” he grins. “Here - take my arm, and let’s try to outpace this guy through the downtown crowd.” He holds his arm out to Taylor, and she takes it, settling her hand over his sizable bicep.

The streets of the shopping district of Lilycove are absolutely bustling with people and Pokemon alike, but Leon guides her along briskly, weaving in and out among the crowd with ease. Taylor has to half-jog to keep pace with his quick strides, with the exception being immediately outside the Department Store, where the crowd is so dense they have to walk and push their way among the shoulder-to-shoulder crowd.

“This place is worse than Wyndon,” Leon laughs. “And I thought Wyndon was pretty bad.”

“Do you not like it there?” Taylor asks, scooting past an old man and his grandchildren. She’d always imagined that Wyndon was exactly the sort of place where someone like Leon would want to be; hearing him call it  _ bad _ is surprising.

“I’m a Postwick guy at heart. I get by in the city, but the country and wilderness will always be my cuppa,” he says, and flashes Taylor a brilliant smile.

As they approach the east side of the city, Taylor and Leon both take a quick peek over their shoulders.

It seems they’re alone; Taylor lets out a breath she hadn’t been aware she’d been holding, and begins to head towards the path down the cliffs that abut the shore.

* * *

It’s not until they’re out on the shoals again that Taylor becomes aware of the sounds of a third set of footsteps, again following them.

“The extra splashes give you away, you know,” she says, turning over her shoulder and trying to sound cool. The more casual and unflustered she can sound right now, she figures, the better.

“Damn,” their pursuer swears, though he’s got a sort of lazy smile on his face as he says the words. “If I were smart, I’d have waited until you two were in the hideout, then followed in after you. Sealed the entrance. Because that is where you’re going, right? The hideout?”

“It is,” Taylor says with confidence, letting go of Leon’s arm. She hadn’t even realized she’d still been holding onto him. “And I don’t think you’re going to be able to stop me.”

The man, she realizes, isn’t the same one as yesterday - though he is dressed all in black. And he’s not Arlo, either.

“Taylor,” Leon says, tension in his voice.

“Stop you? Girl, I’m going to wipe the floor with you,” the man grins, fingers reaching for a Pokeball.

“Not if I have anything to say about it,” Leon says, his large body stepping between Taylor and the man as his fingers grab Charizard’s Pokeball, releasing him with practiced ease.

Charizard roars and stretches up to his full height, and Taylor steps out from behind Leon, reaching out anlong the way and grabbing the Pokeball of his that she knows contains Umbreon. There’s one burning question that she needs to know.

“Um!” Umbreon calls, jumping into the battle. Across from their two Pokemon, a Noibat and a Seviper materialize.

“Umbreon!” Taylor calls sharply. “Anything we need to know?”

Umbreon tilts its ears for a moment, sensing the air.

“Um!” Umbreon says, shaking its head no. Taylor feels a smile spread across her face.

“This should be easy then,” she says, already relishing in the win that she and Leon are sure to secure.

Though the Trainer’s Noibat puts up a decent fight, in the end, none of his Pokemon are remotely in Leon or Taylor’s League.

“So,” Taylor says, walking through the ankle deep water and approaching the young man. “I wouldn’t recommend running away, if I were you.”

The man sinks to his knees, burying his head in his hands.

“What do you want from me?” He asks miserably.

Taylor pauses a moment, thinking.

“I want you to answer some questions. And then I want you to give us a personal tour of the newly renovated Team Aqua Hideout.”

The man raises his head from his hands.

“And then I’m free to go?” He asks.

Taylor nods.

“Yeah,” she says, and reaches one hand down to the man, offering to pull him up. She hears Leon step up behind her, his presence lingering over her shoulder as she pulls the man to his feet. “You got a name?”

“Adrian,” he answers, still hanging his head sullenly.

“And you’re with…?” Taylor prompts.

“Used to be Team Aqua. I - I kind of don’t know who I’m with, anymore,” he admits.

“You wanna explain?” Taylor presses him.

“Well - after Team Aqua was disbanded, I kind of figured that was it. I was approached by a woman about a year ago, though. Sierra, she said her name was,” he explains. “I was between jobs, and she said she represented a new renaissance of Team Aqua. Offered me a job in IT for their new hideout. I loved everything that Team Aqua stood for, but….”

A moment stretches out, and Taylor decides to press further.

“But?”

“This is more than just Team Aqua now. Team Rocket has their hands in everything we do. Come on,” he says, sidestepping around Taylor and Leon and heading towards the hideout. “I owe you a tour.”


	8. Chapter 8

Within fifteen minutes, Leon, Taylor, and Adrian, the grunt, are standing around the bizarre machine that Arlo had been tinkering with.

“We had this here years ago, back when we were just Team Aqua,” Adrian says, patting the machine. “We used it mostly as a massive generator - not a lot of sources of electricity out in the middle of the ocean, you know? But we could rig this part to be a healing machine, like what they’ve got in the Pokemon Centers, too,” he explains, patting a little tray that has six concavities for Pokeballs. “Arlo came in and started ordering boxes and boxes of this stuff, and started rigging this machine up to do…something.”

“Something?” Leon echoes, his arms folded across his chest.

“Yeah. Don’t actually know what, yet,” Adrian admits. “It hasn’t worked yet.”

“And I’m guessing you don’t know what the rocks are for, either?” Taylor adds.

Adrian shakes his head.

“I’m not far up enough to be told important stuff like that,” he laughs. “Besides….even if I did know, would you really trust me to tell you the truth?”

A small smile comes to Taylor’s lips at his words.

“Fair enough,” she admits. “Let’s keep going.”

There’s not much else to the hideout - cots for some folks to sleep on, though they’re all empty at the moment, a bunch of computers, and, as Leon had suspected, a back entrance with a bay for a boat to dock. But Taylor and Leon continue to press Adrian as they walk, and though he claims not to know much, he lets slip little hints and bits of information.

For example, Arlo, Sierra, and Cliff were apparently the three Trainers in charge of the Shadow Pokemon project. From what he understands, they appear to be working for Team Rocket, though he’s not sure if they have a higher up, themselves, or if they  _ are _ the entirety of Team Rocket.

When Taylor presses him for more information about what Team Rocket wanted, he again claims not to know, but just before they head out of the hideout, Adrian pauses.

“Listen. I know you probably think I’m the scourge of the earth for being a part of…whatever all of this is,” he says, gesturing vaguely at the hideout.

“Not really,” Taylor admits. Adrian starts at her words, clearly taken aback.

“Wait - what?”

“Well,” Taylor says, shrugging a little. “I know that some people just make bad decisions, sometimes. I made one, myself, when I joined Team Plasma for a while over in Unova.”

“You - wait, really?” Adrian reiterates, a little stunned.

“We all believe in different things,” Taylor sighs, folding her arms across her chest. Her time in Team Plasma still hurts to think about, but…it’s a part of her, now, and a part of her past. If she couldn’t talk about it even to someone who’d made a decision similar to hers, then what good had her time been? “I don’t think you’re evil. I wasn’t evil for my decision, either, even if the whole world thinks I was.”

“Wait,” Adrian says slowly, recognition coming to his face. “I know you - both of you,” he says, glancing up to Leon, too.

“Found us out,” Leon chuckles.

Adrian sighs, chewing his lip for a moment.

“I’m probably not going to stop working for Team Aqua, you know. Or Team Whoever. I do believe in environmental justice for Pokemon, and it feels good to be back with people who have similar convictions to mine,” he says. “But…I’ll tell you something I overheard Arlo say, because it just doesn’t make sense to me. They were on the phone with someone a few nights ago, and they said something about releasing shadows into the wild. I - I have my suspicions about what that means, and I’m sure you already do, too,” he adds. Taylor and Leon exchange a glance at this, worry evident in their eyes. “And that’s not justice at all. So…do what you can, okay? If you need me, I do odd jobs around the docks sometimes. The dockmaster could get in touch with me.”

“Got it,” Leon nods, but Taylor smiles.

“Thank you, Adrian,” she says, taking a step towards him and putting her hand out. He glances at it, wary, but then smiles and takes her hand in return. “Everything is going to work out. For the both of us.”

She can only pray to Arceus that her words will come true.

* * *

After everything that has happened, Lilycove feels...different to both Taylor and Leon.

If Taylor were honest with herself, she might even say unsafe. Every person dressed in black makes her turn her head, and she knows she couldn’t sleep soundly if they stayed the night.

Which is exactly how she’s ended up back on Charizard, holding tightly onto Leon while the powerful Pokemon beneath them propelled them further and further up into the sky. Fortree, they both agree, will be safer. Quieter.

As they soar through a patch of cloud, Taylor’s phone rings in her pocket, vibrating. She’s sure Leon can feel it - his backside is pressed against it, after all - and she reaches out to silence it.

“You might not wanna do that,” Leon observes, turning around in his seat. “If you drop that phone,” he says, chuckling, “it’s not coming back.”

“Right,” Taylor says, leaving her phone where it is.

She’ll check it when they land. Hopefully, whoever’s calling can wait.


	9. Chapter 9

Fortree is a sight for sore eyes. The treetops are welcoming, the villagers look completely common - no signs of secret Team affiliation - and the hostel owner is familiar and friendly.

“You two were lovely, quiet guests,” he smiles - but a moment later, he scans his books and his smile falters. “Ah -the only room I have tonight is one with only one bed. Will that…be okay for the two of you?”

Taylor doesn’t even look to Leon before saying yes. If she’d slept with him last night, sharing a bed tonight would be fine - and it’s not like they were going to find safe accommodations anywhere else in the city, anyway.

Once they’re up in their room, Taylor decides to finally check her Rotom Phone, which she’s kept on silent, just in case.

“So - who called?” Leon asks, eyeing her curiously.

“It was Blue,” Taylor realizes. “He sent two texts, too.”

“Yeah?” Leon says, moving closer.

“Yeah. He said, and I quote - “I’ve gotten the Shadow Pokemon transferred to me from Leon. Could you send a warning if the Pokemon you transfer me is likely to try to murder me next time?””

Leon chuckles in amusement at this.

“Is that all?” He asks.

“Nope,” Taylor says, scrolling to read the full breadth of his next message. “His second text says “I have my suspicions about what that stone really is, but I’m going to need the two of you to drop it off with Professor Birch for analysis ASAP. He’s over in Littleroot Town, of course. Safe travels and write back when you can.””

A moment of silence stretches out between Taylor and Leon, and Leon sits on the bed beside her somewhat heavily.

“Littleroot Town, huh? I’m not an expert on maps, but that’s…nowhere near here, is it?”

Taylor purses her lips, lowering her phone.

“It’s at the opposite end of the region,” she says. Leon lets out a long sigh.

“Well - we’ve got our work cut out for us, I guess,” he finally says.

“Will it be too much for Charizard to fly us there?” Taylor asks, turning to the purplehead beside her. “I know he’s done a lot of work recently, between these trips to Lilycove and back - not to mention battling the Shadow Pokemon…and it’ll probably take all day to cross the region, realistically.”

Leon’s eyebrows knit together slightly.

“I guess that depends. Would we be able to find safe lodging in Littleroot, or do you think we’d need to travel somewhere else, again?”

Suddenly, an idea hits Taylor.

“Actually - I know a place where we’d be guaranteed lodging in Petalburg City. If we stop in there first - a trip to Littleroot wouldn’t take long at all. And from Petalburg, it’s not far to Dewford, either.”

“Dewford?” Leon repeats blankly - but a moment later, understanding comes to his eyes. “Oh - that boat! The Dockmaster said he heard it there.”

“Exactly,” Taylor says, eyes shimmering as she nods emphatically. “It might take a couple days to get everything done, but I know that we could stay for free in Petalburg for as long as we need.”

“Really?” Leon says, raising one eyebrow in interest. “Now I’m interested - who’s your contact out there?”

A small smile comes to Taylor’s lips.

“His name’s Norman. He’s the Gym Leader out there - and he’s pretty much my adopted father,” she explains. “Hey, Rotom,” she calls, and the phone springs out of silent mode, flying around her head.

“Bzzt! What can I help you with, Taylor?”

“Send a text to Norman and ask if he can put me and my friend, the previous Champion of Galar, up in Petalburg, starting tomorrow night.”

* * *

Taylor’s incredibly excited by the time bedtime rolls around. She knows she should be tired, but she can’t stop thinking about how great it’s going to be to see Norman again. Or how excited she is to get that mystery rock analyzed by Professor Birch. Or, of course, how curious she is to see if there’s anything going down on Dewford related to Arlo and that ship.

She’s fully expecting to lay in bed awake for a couple hours before finally drifting off.

But when she does lay down, she finds herself oddly soothed. Maybe it’s the fresh breeze that drifts in through the opened windows of their treetop room - or the soft, melodic music of the night made by all the nocturnal Bug-type Pokemon.

Or maybe it’s the body heat and solid presence of the man beside her.

Whatever it is, she falls asleep faster than she’d expected, and sleeps deeply.


	10. Chapter 10

Norman had, of course, jumped at the idea of hosting Taylor and Leon, and Taylor had felt that same excitement she’d experienced before bed come rushing back to her as she ate her hostel-provided breakfast.

“You’re gonna love him,” she beams at Leon, who smiles nervously and ducks his head.

“I’m sure I will,” he confirms. “I can’t help but feel a little like a boy meeting a pretty girl’s dad, though….I’m all worried he won’t like me.”

Ordinarily, Taylor would have reassured him that Norman will like him just fine - but she was too busy choking on her bite of egg to form words.

Had he meant to indirectly call her pretty?

“Are you okay?” Leon asks instead, and Taylor, eyes watering, can only nod in response.

Arceus. That had been the least chill response ever.

What was wrong with her?

But she doesn’t dwell on it long, because soon, she and Leon are packing their bags, saying their farewells to the hostel owner, and climbing onto Charizard to start their long journey.

And long it is.

It takes a full ten hours of flying to make it all the way from Fortree to Petalburg, even with Charizard booking it and the pair of them only stopping once, in Mauville, for a bite to eat and a quick bathroom break. By the time they’re landing just outside of Petalburg, every muscle in Taylor’s body is sore, including her butt.

“Ow,” she grunts, lowering herself down from Charizard’s back.

“Are you as sore as I am?” Leon asks. “Because personally, I can’t remember the last time I flew for so long, I could feel it in my butt  _ and _ my abs.”

“I’m definitely as sore as you are,” Taylor groans, dropping down to the ground. Her legs are wobbly underneath her; flying, even on a creature as large as Charizard, is far from being a passive affair, the way that sitting in a Corviknight Taxi is. “Can’t imagine how sore poor Charizard must be, though.”

Charizard turns around to look at her, letting out a surprisingly sassy snort of affirmation. Both she and Leon begin to laugh at this, and Leon reaches over, stroking his nose.

“Don’t worry, buddy. We’ll make sure you get some good food - and a nice place to sleep - soon. Thanks for all your work. Pokeball time now?” Charizard nods and snorts again, and Leon pulls out his Pokeball, returning him to the device. “Now - where did you say this Norman guy lives?”

To Taylor’s shock, Leon manages to actually start looking  _ away _ from the city, putting one hand up to shield his eyes from the sun, which hangs low in the sky.

“He’s, uh, he’s this way,” Taylor laughs, linking her arm in his and guiding him in the right direction. “You know - towards Petalburg, not away from it.”

“You’re sure Petalburg isn’t that way? It looked that way from the air.”

Taylor laughs and shakes her head at this.

“You can’t be serious,” she says, smiling up at Leon. He gives her a sunny smile in response.

“Maybe I am, maybe I’m not. Or….maybe I just wantd to make you laugh,” he offers, and Taylor laughs all the harder.

“Guess you succeeded in that, at least, though I’m still not sure I’d trust you on your own. Now, c’mon, funny guy,” she teases, pulling him along a little harder. “I’m hungry, and I’m sure Norman has some good food cooking for us to enjoy.”

* * *

Standing outside of Norman’s house feels….strange.

It’s incredibly familiar to Taylor, of course, but it’s been so long since she’s been here last. So many things about her have changed, and she’d never imagined that her life would go down this path - not with becoming multiple regions’ Champion, not with becoming disqualified, and certainly not with fighting a shadowy organization with a purple-haired pretty boy and media idol by her side.

Will Norman recognize her? 

Of course he will, Taylor says to herself, then knocks.

“Coming!” A familiar voice calls from within, and Taylor bobs on the balls of her feet in anticipation. Just over her shoulder, Leon seems to tense up.

A couple moments later, the door opens, and Norman is standing before her.

“Hey, kiddo,” he begins to say, but he doesn’t fully get the words out because Taylor actually launches herself at him, throwing her arms around his shoulders.

“Norman!” She says as the older man is knocked a couple steps back, staggering from the impact of her embrace. He laughs as he gets his balance, his arms wrapping around Taylor’s shoulders.

“Missed me, huh, kiddo?” He chuckles, messing up her hair playfully. Taylor squeals and bats his hands away, then pulls back and looks up at him.

“You have no idea!” She grins, and to her surprise, Norman’s eyes actually well up with tears.

“I missed you, too, Tay-Tay,” he smiles, then wipes his tears away quickly, letting go of Taylor as he does so. Taylor feels herself beginning to tear up a little, too - it’s not easy to keep it together, when the one person who has been there for her through thick and thin is suddenly in front of her after  _ how  _ many years away - and she wipes her tears, too.

“Tay-tay?” Leon says in disbelief behind her, and soon, Taylor starts laughing, her tears nearly entirely forgotten.

“Don’t get any bright ideas, Mr. Champion,” she teases him, and she’s surprised to see a small smile spread across his face as he looks at her, his golden eyes bright.

“I guess this must be Leon,” Norman says, and Taylor looks away from Leon, turning back to him.

“Yeah! This is Leon, Galar’s former Champion,” she says by way of introduction. Norman smiles and puts his hand out; Leon shakes it, turning his smile to Norman.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Norman. Taylor’s said a lot of good things about you,” he says.

“The pleasure is mine,” Norman replies easily, letting go of Leon’s hand and stepping aside to let them both in. “And please - call me just Norman. Mister sounds too formal.”

“Oh - certainly,” Leon says politely. Taylor slips off her shoes, and takes a deep breath in.

Something smells amazing, and it takes her a moment to place it.

“Did you make your world-famous tonkotsu for us, Norman?!” She asks, eyes widening.

“You tell me, kiddo. Come on in, and grab a plate,” Norman smiles, gesturing them both to the kitchen. Taylor checks quickly to make sure Leon’s taken off his shoes - it’s just polite, especially in Hoenn - then follows Norman eagerly.

“Oh, wow! It really is!” Taylor exclaims, noticing the pot of simmering broth stocked high with noodles, vegetables, and other ingredients. 

“Bet it’s been a while since you’ve had this, huh?” Norman asks, smiling ear to ear.

“I - I - yeah, it’s been a really long while,” Taylor admits, then shakes her head. Leon lingers behind her, not too close, but not too far, clearly not comfortable yet. She takes a bowl from the few stacked on the counter, then turns to hand it to Leon, but he smiles and shakes his head.

“Ladies first,” he insists.

“I’m so hungry, I won’t even object,” Taylor laughs, grabbing another bowl for herself.

“I bet you two are starving,” Norman agrees. “Your Pokemon must be hungry, too. How long was the flight over here?”

“Almost ten hours,” Taylor sighs, beginning to spoon the ramen into her bowl. She catches a glimpse of Leon’s face, noting the way his eyes widen as he takes in the delicious ingredients.

If he thought Galar curry was good, he’s gonna  _ love  _ Norman’s tonkotsu.

“Ten hours…whew,” Norman says with a whistle. “That’s not an easy ride.”

“You’re telling me,” Leon agrees. “Though I mostly just feel bad for my Charizard. He didn’t have an easy job, doing all the heavy lifting that whole time.”

Norman laughs again and nods.

“I bet. We’ll make sure he gets fed extra-well tonight - but first, let’s get the two of you fed,” he says, moving to pick up a bowl for himself as Taylor passes the ladle off to Leon.

“He - and I - will both be extremely grateful for your hospitality!” Leon laughs, beginning to take spoonfuls of the food for himself.

Soon, the three of them are seated around Norman’s dinner table, talking about anything and everything. Though Taylor corresponded with Norman fairly frequently, even in Galar, it’s still different, being here in person with him.

It feels like old times, in the best sort of way.

“That was amazing,” Leon sighs, sitting back in his seat after finishing his second helping of ramen.

“Isn’t it the best?” Taylor agrees, then turns back to Norman. “Thank you so much for having us. And feeding us such delicious food.”

“Believe me, Tay Tay,” Norman smiles. “The pleasure is mine. It’s good to see you again…and I hope you’ll forgive this old man for saying so, but it’s good to see the little girl I knew so grown up, too.”

“I don’t feel very grown up sometimes,” Taylor sighs, leaning back in her chair, too, but Norman’s smile only grows as he stands up, collecting their bowls.

“Believe me - sometimes I don’t, either. That’s not so uncommon, kiddo.”

“Here - I can do the dishes,” Leon says, quickly standing up and reaching over towards Norman.

“You’re sure? You’ve had a long day,” Norman says, his eyebrows raising.

“I’m sure. It’s the least I can do for a host who’s been so kind,” Leon says.

“Yeah, Norman - it’s no trouble, really,” Taylor insists, beginning to stand, but Leon places one gentle hand on her shoulder.

“Taylor, you should rest. You’ve been through a lot recently,” he says, his voice growing more quiet and his eyes darkening. Taylor frowns - even though she’d told Norman almost everything, she still, somewhat childishly, hadn’t told him about the head injury that had landed her in the hospital for a night.

“Oh?” Norman says, curious, and Taylor sighs, pouting a little as she sits back down.

“It’s a, uh, bit of a story,” she finally admits, watching as the men go to clean up, Leon handling the dirty dishes while Norman puts away the leftover food. She tells the story of their first adventure into the Team Aqua hideout and the stray strike from the Scizor, trying to play down the severity of the whole thing in favor of reassuring Norman. Sure, it had been bad, but Leon had been there to help her - and the Pokemon Center had gotten her up and running again in no time at all.

“Taylor,” Norman says, frowning. His dark eyes grow darker with worry; he’s seen through to the heart of things, despite Taylor’s best efforts. “This all sounds very serious.”

“It is,” she admits with a heavy sigh. “It’s really serious, and if I’m right, I think Team Rocket is involved in this, somehow. Have you…heard or seen anything unusual, lately?”

Norman frowns, leaning against the counter and thinking.

“Petalburg is pretty small, but at the end of the day, it’s still a city. There’s almost certainly a lot that goes on here that I don’t know about,” he sighs, running one hand through his dark hair. “I wish I could give you some helpful information, but really, I don’t know anything useful at all. There’s just the usual Gym Challengers coming through - some talented, some needing some work, the folks from Dewford with their catchy phrases….they were talking about black rocks and Granite Cave for weeks, you know, and even started wearing some on little necklaces -”

“Wait,” Taylor says, her eyes widening. “Did they look kind of like this?” She asks, pulling the rock specimen out of her pocket and holding it out to Norman. He walks over and takes it, but doesn’t have to even look long before he has his answer.

“Yeah - that’s definitely the stuff. You’re into it, too?”

“No - they had  _ piles _ of this stuff in the Team Aqua Hideout,” Taylor says. “I stole some and smuggled it out.”

“We’re supposed to get this over to Professor Birch’s lab for analysis,” Leon explains. Norman’s eyebrows raise once again.

“Analysis?”

“It might be connected to the Shadow Pokemon,” Taylor explains. “But wait - you said that the Dewford Town people were saying these came from Granite Cave?”

“Seemed like it,” Norman affirms, and Taylor finally stands, walking over to Leon and grabbing him by both shoulders.

“This is exactly what we needed!” She exclaims, then pulls him into a hug. “I knew coming here was the right decision!” Leon embraces her back, but then pulls away, a confused look on his face.

“I’m not exactly following,” he admits.

“The Dockmaster in Lilycove said that Arlo’s boat was heard over in Dewford, right? Granite Cave is over  _ by _ Dewford. Arlo must be coming and going to shuttle this stuff around, and if we go to Granite Cave, we’lll get some of our answers!” Taylor laughs, then turns to Norman and hugs him in return. “Norman! Thank you so much. You don’t know how helpful you’ve been!”

“I guess I don’t,” he admits with a small laugh, then pulls away, his eyes growing sober. “If you, um, wanted a little more help - I’m heading over to Littleroot tomorrow to check in on Brendan. Visit, and all, you know? Professor Birch’s lab won’t be far.”

Taylor’s mind races for a moment - but only a moment. Ultimately, she knows she can trust Norman through and through, and his presence in Littleroot will be far less noticeable among the small town folk than hers.

“You don’t mind?” Taylor asks, just to check, but Norman shakes his head.

“For you, kiddo? Of course not,” he says, giving her his best warm, fatherly smile.

“Okay,” Taylor says, and hands the rock over to him. “Don’t lose this,” she adds with a little laugh. Norman laughs, too.

“Promise you I won’t. Now - let’s get your Pokemon all fed, hmm?”

Though Leon is watching her with trepidation in his eyes, Taylor can’t help but feel as if an enormous weight has been lifted from her.


	11. Chapter 11

The evening passes surprisingly quickly; the Pokemon all eat, and time spent talking with Norman flies by.

Taylor doesn’t realize how tired she’s become, though, until her head touches something firm, and she realizes she’d nodded off against Leon’s shoulder while sitting on the couch. She goes to sit up, but Leon puts one arm around her, pulling her close, so she relaxes, too exhausted to put up a fight.

“Looks like you kids are beat,” Norman laughs. “I better let you head to bed.”

“Probably for the best,” Leon agrees, cutting off Taylor, who had been about to protest. She wants, more than anything, to spend as much time as possible with Norman.

But she really is quite tired.

“I think I mentioned earlier, but I’ve only got the one spare bedroom…with only one bed,” he adds pointedly. “Is that going to be an issue?”

“No,” Taylor says around a yawn. What’s a third night in a row with Leon, anyway? “S’fine, but thank you.”

“I had a feeling,” Norman says, a soft smile coming to his lips. It reaches his eyes, which sparkle in a way that Taylor has only seen a couple times before.

“You - you did?” Leon stammers, clearly as surprised as Taylor is.

“Of course,” Norman nods sagely. “When I saw how you looked at my Taylor - well…it reminded me of how I looked at my wife.” His eyes sparkle again as he looks between Taylor and Leon. “It’s good to see someone treat my Taylor like that, you know.”

Any protest Taylor might have had dies down in her throat, though she does sit up from Leon’s shoulder. She’s sure Norman must be misinterpreting things - sure, her heart had fluttered a few times while Leon had looked at her, but whose wouldn’t? He’s a handsome man; Taylor figures a reaction now and then is only natural. Otherwise, the two of them were adventure partners, no more, no less.

But if it brought Norman comfort to think that Taylor might have found someone - she wouldn’t take that away from him now. She can wait for the danger to die down, and then revisit things.

“Well, I, um, thank you, sir?” Leon squeaks, obviously a little confused. Norman chuckles, standing.

“No need to be nervous around me,” he smiles. “You never know - maybe one day, I’ll call you son!”

Leon stammers something incoherent at this, and Taylor’s sure her face is ruby red, but Norman just waves the two of them off.

“Ah, I can see I’m getting you both nervous! Come along, now, and I’ll stop teasing you two about this,” Norman laughs, beginning to head upstairs.

Still somewhat flabbergasted, both Taylor and Leon follow behind him, exchanging a glance and then looking quickly away.

Norman is true to his promise to drop the subject, though, and he brings them to the guest bedroom. It’s largely unchanged since Taylor was a kid and used to stay in it now and then, and she smiles at the pictures on the wall - some of Brendan, some of her, both of them sometimes with their Pokemon or with Norman. Taylor pauses by a picture of her just after she’d defeated Norman in his Gym; the two of them are sweaty and exhausted, but they’re both smiling so widely, she feels herself smiling, too.

“You were so little back then,” Norman murmurs, and Taylor turns to him, blushing. 

“I guess I was,” she admits. “I felt like I was on top of the world, though.”

“So did I,” Norman agrees. “Even though I’d just lost.”

A moment stretches out between them, their eyes gazing at one another warmly.

“Well, kiddo, if you need extra blankets or a pillow or anything - you know where everything is,” Norman finally says, reaching for Taylor and pulling her into a hug. “Night, Taylor.” He pulls back, pressing a quick kiss to her forehead. “You know I love you.”

Taylor pulls Norman into a tighter hug again, pressing a quick kiss to his cheek.

“You know I love you, too,” she says, holding him just a moment longer. Then she pulls away, and Norman waves to Leon.

“Good night to you, too, Leon! If you need anything, I’m sure Taylor will take good care of you. Now sleep well and rest up - you both look like you need it,” he adds, then steps out the door and closes it behind him.

Taylor and Leon go about getting ready for bed in relative silence, only a few words passing between the two of them. Eventually, Taylor crawls into bed, picking the side she usually slept on when she was little, and Leon pauses by the foot of the bed.

“Um. You’re, uh -”

“What?” Taylor asks, leveling her tired gaze at him.

“You’re sure it’s okay if I…?” He trails off, gesturing at the open space in the bed.

“Yeah,” Taylor says, yawning again. “We’ve only slept together the past two nights. What’s one more?”

“Right,” Leon says, and finally climbs into bed beside her. 

“Can I turn out the light, then?” Taylor asks, and when Leon makes a quiet  _ uh-huh _ , she reaches over and pulls the chain on the bedside lamp. The light turns out abruptly, and the room is bathed in darkness.

Taylor’s nearly asleep when Leon rolls over onto his side next to her, his movement waking her.

“Taylor?” He asks, his voice quiet but deep.

“Yeah?” She says in response, not rolling over to face him.

“I just want you to know…” he trails off a minute, then takes a deep breath. “Whatever happens tomorrow, I’ll make sure you stay safe.”

Taylor does begin to turn around at this, but a surprising touch at her waist stops her. She lays still, holding her breath while Leon scoots just a little closer to her, fitting his bigger body to hers.

“I promise no matter what we come across, I’ll protect you,” he murmurs, burying his nose into her shoulder, and Taylor lets out her breath, reaching over and finding Leon’s hand.

“I know, Leon,” she murmurs in response. “I’ll do my best to protect you, too.”

The only response she gets is a quiet hum, the vibrations of his voice tickling her shoulder a little. Taylor finds herself pulling at Leon’s hand, drawing his arm around her. They may not be in love, the way that Norman thinks they are, but something about Leon has grown extremely comforting and soothing to her over the past few days.

The last thought on Taylor’s mind is how ironic that is, given how profoundly she’d once opposed what she believed to be his ideology.

But then, had she really known him then, or only assumed that she’d known him?

In her heart, she knows the answer, and she falls asleep, secure in the knowledge that she’d made a good friend in someone she had once considered nearly an enemy.


	12. Chapter 12

Parting with Norman the next morning is much harder than Taylor had expected it to be.

“You take care, kiddo, and come back home safe tonight, okay?” He asks, pulling her into a tight hug. Taylor melts against him, barely holding back tears.

“I will. You, too,” she says.

“I’m just going to Littleroot to see my son,” Norman chuckles, pulling back. “You’re doing much harder work.” Then, he turns to Leon, hand extended. “Take care of her, son,” he says, and Taylor can see the way Leon’s eyes shimmer at the affectionate term. 

“I will,” he says, and unexpectedly pulls Norman into a hug with the arm not currently busy with a handshake. Norman embraces him in return, thumping her on the back. “You’ll be seeing her soon, Norman, I promise,” Leon says, just loudly enough for Taylor to hear it, and she has to swallow hard to keep herself together. 

It’s not until she’s walking side-by-side with Leon to the outskirts of Petalburg once more that she feels tears beginning to flow down her cheeks. She stays silent for a long moment - but then a quiet sob tears its way from her throat.

Anger bubbles up within Taylor - how can she be so weak as to actually  _ cry _ , out loud, now? She needs to be strong, to be ready to confront Arlo, and the frustration of the whole situation feels overwhelming and only serves to make her cry even more.

“Hey,” Leon murmurs, moving quickly to her side and pulling her into an embrace. Taylor buries her nose in Leon’s shoulder, her fingers clutching at his shirt as another sob racks her body. “Hey, hey, hey. I’m here. I’m here. What’s wrong?”

Though her words are hard to get out, she manages to talk in between shuddering breaths.

“It - I didn’t expect - it was just so hard to leave Norman,” she admits. Some small part of her had wanted to be able to stay with him longer, catch up and relive the old days. If she’s honest with herself, she had felt safe there, and she’d felt like she really did have a family in this world after all.

But besides that, a crushing sense of anxiety has begun to overwhelm her. She’s not sure if it’s just because she’s afraid to face Arlo again after her last encounter with them had nearly killed her, or if it’s something else, but she feels, inexplicably, that something terrible is about to happen.

She doesn’t tell Leon that, though, and lets him soothe her, his big hand rubbing gentle circles on her back between her shoulder blades.

Eventually, she settles down, and the two of them set back out for the ferry to Dewford Town.

The route to the ferry is relatively short, and they decide to walk it, letting Charizard rest. He’d worked hard yesterday, after all, and they’re very likely to need him ready to fight in short order.

The pit of anxiety in Taylor’s stomach only grows larger as she steps onto the dock to the ferry. The boat is moored, and she can clearly see an old man bustling around on deck, cleaning and tidying.

“Mr. Briney,” she calls, waving. She doesn’t know if he’ll remember her from so many years ago, or if he even cares - but she does need his help.

“You know him, too?” Leon asks quietly, surprise evident in his tone.

“Only kind of,” Taylor admits with a small shrug. “It’s…complicated.”

“Ah,” Leon says, and otherwise leaves the topic alone.

Mr. Briney clambers off his boat and onto the dock, approaching the pair. Peeko, his Wingull, perches on his hat, watching them both carefully.

“Hi, Mr. Briney,” Taylor says, her heart pounding. “I don’t know if you remember me, but I need your help -” she begins, but the ferryman holds up one hand, stopping her.

“My friend in Lilycove told me you’d likely be coming by soon,” is all he says. “Let’s get you on board and set out for Dewford. There are some things you’ll want to know.”


	13. Chapter 13

Mr. Briney had proved to know more than Taylor had expected. The unfamiliar stones that were so trendy on Dewford - and which are apparently so essential to whatever Team Aqua is doing - are actually being mined over in Granite Cave, which gave Taylor and Leon a place to start looking.

As relieved as Taylor is to know where to start, her heart is still pounding more than ever as she and Leon make their way over to Granite Cave. They’re both oddly silent, their hands on their Pokeballs.

Even from afar, Taylor can tell that Granite Cave is much busier than usual. There’s quite a bit of people coming and going, but two figures stand by the cave entrance, supervising it all.

“That’s Arlo,” she breathes, finally picking her Espeon’s Pokeball off her belt. 

“How do you want to handle this?” Leon asks, turning to look at her carefully. Taylor’s hands are sweating, but she knows there’s only one way  _ to _ handle this.

“I’m going to battle them again, and I’m going to find out what they know,” she declares, and sets out across the sand.

Maybe, if she can just be steadfast enough in her resolution, things will work out okay this time.

“Arlo!” She calls, letting her Espeon out of its Pokeball. Behind her, she hears Leon doing the same with Charizard.

One of the figures turns their head to look at her, and, sure enough, it’s exactly who she thought it was.

“You’re alive,” Arlo says bluntly, raising one eyebrow and stepping towards her. A woman with long, shiny brown hair pulled back in a ponytail follows along beside her. “I thought Scizor might have killed you.”

“I’m harder to kill than that,” Taylor growls.

“Are these the losers that followed you to the old Team Aqua base?” The woman over Arlo’s shoulder asks, and Arlo nods.

“Yeah. How did you guys find me and Sierra?” They ask, apparently more worried about that than anything else.

“This isn’t exactly hard to catch wind of,” Leon says, setting one hand protectively on Taylor’s shoulder and gesturing at all the hustle and bustle happening in Granite Cave. “And we’re not losers - we’re Champions! And we’re going to show you what we can do!”

Within a flash, both Arlo and Sierra send out their first Pokemon. Arlo’s is a Blastoise, and isn’t Shadow - but Sierra’s is a Lapras, and emits the dark aura that could only mean one thing.

“Two Water-types,” Taylor hisses, glancing sidelong at Charizard. “And one Shadow Pokemon.”

“We got this,” Leon says encouragingly.

“Espeon!” Taylor calls, sending her Pokemon into the fray. “Cover anything that Lapras tries to send at us, and start working on that Blastoise with Psychic!”

“Charizard!” Leon calls, a wry smile coming to his face. “You know what to do!”

Charizard replies with a loud roar, and takes to the air, flying with surprising agility and firing off Flamethrowers from his mouth. Some strike the Water-types, who immediately begin to spend their energy blocking his moves with their water. Unsurprisingly, the Lapras sends a blast of Surf towards Leon and Taylor, but Espeon jumps forward, using its Psychic powers to hold back the surge.

“That’s it!” Taylor calls, punching the air. “Now, Psychic!”

Espeon complies, managing to hit Blastoise. The enormous Pokemon staggers back, shocked but not quite out of the fight.

“Charizard! Now!” Leon calls, and to everyone’s surprise, Charizard divebombs from the air, crashing into Lapras with an enormously powerful Thunder Punch.

The Pokemon staggers back, enraged and obviously wounded - but not completely out of the fight.

“All we gotta do is manage that again!” Leon whoops, punching the air. Charizard takes to the skies once more, judiciously using its Flamethrower to haze the two opponents.

“Blastoise!” Arlo calls, clearly frustrated. “Razor Shell that Charizard out of the sky!”

But as Blastoise goes to tuck itself into its shell, Espeon appears to read Taylor’s mind, again firing off another blast of Psychic. This connects and hits relentlessly, and Blastoise emerges from its shell, stumbling back.

“Don’t let up!” Taylor shouts, watching as Espeon fires off another Psybeam at the Pokemon. Charizard is still moving with agility through the air, avoiding the worst of what appears to be Ice Beams from Lapras - but then the Shadow Pokemon again grows frustrated, summoning up an enormous Surf.

The wave rushes at Taylor and Leon - and at Espeon and Blastoise, and Arlo and Sierra, too.

Leon grabs Taylor desperately, holding her close in his best effort to protect her. It’ll be useless, she knows - but just before the wave hits, a purple sphere forms around the pair.

“Espeon! Yes!” Taylor whoops, watching as the waves break over the psychic barrier harmlessly.

When the Surf breaks, Blastoise is knocked out, and Charizard sears down from the sky once more, landing a second Thunder Punch on the Lapras.

“Yes!” Leon cheers, punching the air. Across from them, Sierra and Arlo are on their knees, absolutely drenched. “Now  _ that’s _ what I call a Champion Time!”

Taylor actually finds herself laughing and cheering, too. She may have hated the phrase once - but now, she’s happy to hear it.

She  _ is _ a Champion, even if not officially, and she’s the one here doing what no one else in the world can do.

A frustrated cry tears from Sierra’s throat as she picks some seaweed out of her hair.

“Forget this!” She screams, returning the knocked-out Shadow Pokemon to its ball. “I’m going to go find Cliff - and the boss! They can release the Shadow Pokemon into the wild anytime now, and we don’t  _ have _ time anymore!”

Arlo purses their lips, but otherwise remains silent, only returning their KO’d Blastoise to its ball. Sierra throws another Pokeball, letting another Lapras out - though this one hasn’t been made into a Shadow Pokemon.

Then, to Taylor’s surprise, she climbs on the Pokemon’s back and urges it out to the sea.

Both Taylor and Leon gape at the sight, then Charizard lands by Leon’s side, presenting its back to him.

“Leon -” Taylor gasps, her eyes welling up with tears. He can’t do this - he won’t! Surely, he will never leave her?

“I’ll be back,” Leon says, reaching up with his big hands to cup either side of her face. Then, surprisingly, he pulls her close, pressing a quick kiss to her forehead. “I promise, Taylor, I’ll be back safe. We can’t let her just disappear!”

“But Leon - I can’t -” Taylor stammers, tears running down her cheeks. Leon doesn’t let her finish her sentence, though, wiping her tears away with his thumb.

“You  _ can _ ,” he insists gently, taking his cap off his head. “You’re every bit as much a Champion as I am. I’ll see you soon.” With his best smile, he turns the cap around and sets it on Taylor’s head.

And then he turns and climbs on Charizard, urging his Pokemon into the sky.

Taylor watches as he grows smaller and smaller on the horizon, following after Sierra’s fast-moving Lapras, the tears rolling faster and faster down her cheeks. She touches his hat numbly.

This wasn’t supposed to happen.

This isn’t fair.

“You!” She screams, turning and rounding on Arlo. “ _ You’re  _ the cause of this! It’s because of  _ you  _ that I’m here fighting! You and your stupid plans - what, about unleashing Shadow Pokemon in the wild? I’m going to tear you to pieces -”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa,” Arlo stammers, waving their hands in surrender. “That’s not - that’s not necessary.”

They actually look afraid.

“No? Not necessary?” Taylor growls, making fists so tight her hands are shaking.

“No,” Arlo says, deflating. “I don’t have any Shadow Pokemon on me, and most of these people are just contractors. They’re not going to fight for me. Blastoise was the best shot I had. I could put my other Pokemon through the paces, but…I don’t honestly think they stand a chance against your Espeon. So I won’t do that.”

“You surrender, then?” Taylor asks, the unexpected nature of the action helping to bring her back to earth.

“Yeah. I give up.”

The words ring through Taylor’s head for a moment, and then Espeon sits down, turning back to look at her with a calm glance.

The whole thing really is over.

“I’m going to call…” Taylor catches herself; she’d been thinking about ringing Norman, the only person who she knew she could trust, and had nearly been about to say  _ my dad on you.  _ But that didn’t exactly sound intimidating. “The cops, then.” She decides, and pulls out her Rotom Phone.

“Fine. Whatever,” Arlo says with a shrug. “I haven’t technically done anything illegal yet, anyway, so…”

“Nearly killing me was probably almost illegal,” Taylor grumbles, dialing.

Arlo grimaces, touching their hand to their forehead.

“Right.”


	14. Chapter 14

Everything seems to go in fast motion and slow motion at once. The police had, fortunately, taken Taylor’s phone call extremely seriously, and a veritable tour de force of officers had descended on Dewford. Brawly, the Dewford Gym Leader, had arrived, too, and then called Norman over, despite Taylor’s protests.

“I don’t want to bother him,” she had tried to say. “He’s in Littleroot, visiting his son today.”

“He’d want to be here,” Brawly had said. “Both to be there for you, and to help decipher…all  _ this.”  _ He gestured at Granite Cave, a sour look on his face.

In the end, Norman had rushed over, too, though the couple hours it had taken him to Fly over had seemed interminable. Taylor had answered a slew of questions from the police in the meanwhile, and gotten a phone call from Blue, who seemed to think the whole thing was over, now.

A sneaking suspicion in Taylor’s gut keeps her from thinking the same.

The whole time, Taylor keeps an eye on the side of the ocean where Leon and Sierra had disappeared. She knows that the odds of him coming back in that exact spot are slim, but still, where else can she look?

He’d promised to return for her, after all.

Eventually, the sun lowers in the sky, and Taylor sits down on the beach, watching the police interviewing the various contractors, putting the little rocks into evidence baggies. She pulls Leon’s cap down on her head, lowering the brim so she can’t see much of the world around her. The entire zone gets taped off with Taylor inside, but she only half-cares.

With the sun down, would Leon be able to travel safely? How long will Sierra push him?

“Hey, kiddo,” a quiet voice murmurs, and then a soft blanket is wrapped around Taylor’s shoulders. She draws it tight silently; the ocean air has picked up an evening chill to it. “Just talked to the police chief and filled him in on everything that I know. Which, I guess, is almost everything you know, isn’t it?”

Taylor nods, but doesn’t turn to look at Norman. If she looks away from the sky for even a moment, she might miss Leon’s return.

Norman lowers himself to the ground with a groan, sitting down beside her and putting one arm around her shoulders. He pulls her close, and she lets herself lean into him silently.

A part of her wishes she’d just start crying. It’s what it feels like she’s supposed to do right now. Cry for Leon, who’s left her; cry for the Pokemon who have suffered as Shadow Pokemon; cry for her former self, who had hated herself - and her loss of her Champion titles - so much that she’d forgotten who she was, and how powerful she could be.

But instead, she’s just numb.

“Where’s Leon?” Norman finally asks.

“He took off after Sierra,” Taylor manages, her voice very quiet.

“The other person with Team Rocket, or whoever?” Norman inquires, trying to piece everything together.

“Yeah. She ran away on her Lapras, saying she needed to get to Cliff and the boss to unleash the Shadow Pokemon they have.”

“So Leon followed her,” Norman nods.

“He left me,” she says, barely even thinking about the words before they’re out. “He said he’d protect me, but he left me.”

Norman is silent a long moment, pulling her closer still.

“He left  _ because _ he wanted to protect you, you know,” he says. “I’m sure that going after Sierra wasn’t easy for him. But he chose to do the hard thing, because he knew it was what would be best for you in the long run.”

Taylor finally pushes Leon’s cap up and turns to look at Norman, surprised to see the way his eyes shimmer with emotion - and the start of tears. She supposes that, in some ways, he could relate to Leon’s decision. After all, he’d chosen to support his family by going to Petalburg, knowing that being a Gym Leader would be the best chance for Brendan to have a good life - even if it meant he couldn’t be a part of it as often.

The fleeting thought crosses Taylor’s mind that perhaps everything repeats itself, in a way. It’s almost comforting for Taylor to imagine, for a moment, that everything that she had been through - would go through - was part of some great circle, history repeating itself throughout humanity, so that no matter where she went, she could find people who understood a piece of her.

The tears finally come, and she slumps against Norman’s shoulder, sobbing uncontrollably.

Norman holds her silently, stroking her hair.

Only when she begins to calm down does he finally pull back. The sun hangs dangerously low in the sky, bathing everything in a golden glow.

“We have to go home, Taylor,” he murmurs gently. “He’ll find his way back to you, whether it’s here or somewhere else.

Despite the lump in her throat, Taylor nods.

“I know.”


	15. Chapter 15

Taylor sleeps restlessly that night. The bed feels far too big for her alone, and she keeps having nightmares of waking up, reaching over for Leon but finding only the empty edge of a cliff instead. Eventually, the dream shifts to flying over the ocean at night, holding onto a great beast and struggling to stay awake lest she fall off her steed and into the abyss below.

It’s only in the early hours of the morning that she falls into a sound, dreamless sleep.

When she finally wakes up, half the day has already gone by, and only Leon’s cap is on the pillow next to her.

Taylor jolts out of bed when she sees the time, grabs Leon’s cap, and runs downstairs.

“Norman!” She calls, unsure of whether the man is even in the house at all.

“Hang on,” she can hear him murmuring. He’s in the kitchen - at the kitchen table, actually, on the phone.

“Have they found him yet?” She asks, breathless. Norman covers the mouthpiece of his Rotom Phone, lowering it slightly.

“No sign that I’ve heard of. I’m on the phone with Professor Birch - can we talk in just a moment?”

Taylor nods, sitting in a chair and slumping onto the table. As far as she’s concerned, she has nothing to talk further about. If they haven’t found him yet, that’s all she needs to know.

She tries to listen into Norman’s conversation a little, but all she can make out are his ‘mm-hmm’s and ‘uh-huh’s. Eventually, frustrated, she pulls out her Rotom Phone, planning to scroll through whatever she can find online.

Except, she realizes, she’d set it to silent the night before, and she’s actually gotten a text from Leon.

Taylor stands up so fast she nearly knocks the chair behind her over, heart pounding as she clicks on the text.

“Is everything all right?” Norman asks, concerned.

“Leon texted me,” she blurts, and Norman stands up, too.

“I need to go, Professor. I’ll call you back when I can - thank you so much,” he says, then hangs up the phone. “What does it say?”

“It says,” she says, hands shaking as she begins to scroll. “ _ Taylor - I’m sure you took care of Arlo with no trouble. I let Sierra think she lost me and followed her to another hideout. I think this used to be Team Magma’s. I’ve texted coordinates to Blue - he’ll send them to you if I need backup. Otherwise, I’m going in. I’m going to stop this now. It’s what I need to do to keep you safe. _ ”

Taylor’s hands begin shaking, and she drops her phone - except that Rotom begins to fly, keeping the device from crashing.

“Mizzz Taylor,” it says, taking itself off Silent Mode. “Are you okay?”

“I - I don’t know,” she admits, sitting down. “I knew there was more to this.”

“We need those coordinates,” Norman says firmly. “There’s no way that Leon needs to take this on all by himself.”

“He’s being stupid,” Taylor agrees fervently. “He’s being an absolute idiot, rushing in there alone! I know there’s some urgency, but it’s not like he can’t wait a  _ little _ bit, here!” She groans, dropping her head into her hands, propping her elbows on the table. “Why is he  _ like _ this? He drives me crazy! One moment, I think he’s the greatest thing in the world, the next, I’m missing him like there’s no tomorrow, and then after that, I want to shake him! I don’t understand!”

Norman chuckles, and Taylor picks her head up out of her hands in surprise.

“What’s so funny?” She asks, confused.

“Of course you don’t understand,” Norman laughs, looking at Taylor affectionately. “You’re in love with him. Love makes no sense.”

Taylor’s mouth gapes open like a Magikarp’s for a moment.

“I - did you - oh,” she says, realization washing over her. Her whole body begins to feel warm and fuzzy, and she’s sure her face is blushing a fierce red. “Oh. I’m…I’m in…”

“You don’t have to say it,” Norman laughs, reaching over and patting her on the shoulder. “It’s all right, Tay Tay. I saw it yesterday in the way you looked at him. He loves you, too, you know.”

“He does?” Taylor squeaks, feeling her face heat up even further.

“I told you. He looked at you like I used to look at my wife,” Norman says patiently. “Now. We need to keep our focus on the task at hand. You need to text Blue and get those coordinates. Actually - scratch texting. Call him. We need to hurry if we’re going to get a force out to help handle this.”

Taylor sets her shoulders firmly, taking Leon’s cap off her head and looking at it. If Leon needs her help, she’s willing to move oceans to bring it to him.

“Right. On it. Rotom?”

“Dialing!” It chirps. As it begins to make the call to Blue, Taylor locks eyes with Norman.

“I’m going, too. To the hideout,” she says quietly. She’s expecting some sort of push back from him, but instead, he only nods.

“I know,” he says simply. “If there’s anyone who can put an end to this and keep Leon - and all of Hoenn - safe, it’s you. You may not officially hold the title anymore, but you’re our Champion, Taylor.”

For the first time in a long time, those words don’t hurt to hear - and she knows she can do this.


End file.
